An Appeal for the Georgia Colony (1732)

This anonymous and untitled request for contributions toward the proposed Georgia colony appeared in the London Journal for July 29, 1732.¹ From several quotations, some of them extended ones, from Oglethorpe’s then unpublished Some Account of the Design of the Trustees for establishing Colonys in America, it seems obvious that this appeal was by Oglethorpe himself.² He was, after all, the designated publicist for the Trustees, with the specific responsibility of assuring favorable publicity in the newspapers. Although the parallels of generous Greeks and Romans with contemporary Englishmen may now seem somewhat confusing, Oglethorpe’s readers were familiar with the classical models and their English parallels. From the introductory statement that English readers are “of the same nation” with the models, we know that these models are contemporary rather than classical; various anachronisms confirm contemporary times; and the tenses gradually shift from past to present. Such parallels—the use of Greek and Roman models and names for contemporary Englishmen—were prominent in the poetry of Alexander Pope and indeed generally in the literature of the time. Apparently Oglethorpe found this sort of parallel useful for praising friends and colleagues without embarrassing them and perhaps convenient for praising several under one name.

I reprint from the London Journal.

To the Author of the LONDON JOURNAL.

SIR,

As you often express a tender Compassion for the Miseries of your Fellow-Creatures; I hope you’ll give the following Letter a Place in your Journal, because its chief Aim is to relieve the Distressed.

THE thinking of the Misfortunes of others, and giving Succour to the afflicted, even before they ask, is the most glorious Action that can be performed by a mere human Creature; and if we consider this as flowing from the Christian Motive Charity, it meets with a Reward even in this Life, and secures a present internal Happiness, by the Assurance of a perpetual one hereafter.

Separate from that greater Motive of a future Reward, things are so ordered by Nature, that as Philanthropia, or the Love of Mankind, prevails more or less, the State flourishes or declines. In the Time of Scipio the African,³ the whole Roman People had a noble Tenderness for the Miseries of others. A Latin Audience was not then led away by a loose Jest, or idle Song; but a tender and generous Sentiment affected uncorrupted Romans. When Chremes says, Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto, the crowded Theatre wept and applauded.⁴ A City so sensible of what was right, so touched with the Miseries of their Fellow-Creatures, could not fail of Success; they were worthy of the Empire of the World, and they soon acquired it.

In a State where this Spirit prevails, the People multiply wonderfully; for this is the very opposite to sordid Self-love, Oppression, and Cruelty. Where this Love of Mankind prevails, there is no need of Laws to force Humanity, and prevent the Oppression of the Powerful; Good-nature there makes the Great a Law to themselves. When this Disposition is general, the selfish Wretch, even when authorized by Law, is afraid of oppressing his Inferiors; since such a Proceeding would draw upon him Contempt and Infamy[.] The Usurer is ashamed to profit of the elapsed Day. The Colonel will no more wear Lace purchased by the off Reckonings, than he will wear the old Clothes of the Soldier. The Lawyer will not keep a poor Man’s Fee, on a Cause broke off undetermined. The Gentleman will not take the Advantage of the Mortality of a Family, and refuse to renew an expired Lease, because the Orphan’s Father and Mother died together. The Physician will not write twice a Day in a House,⁵ where Want is perhaps a greater Ill than the Distemper, at least equally sure to destroy.

The reciting the Weakness of Mankind is very disagreeable, but it is pleasant to dwell upon Instances that set human Nature in a beautiful Light. Who can help rejoicing, that he is of the same Nation and Species with Hippocrates, Decius, Messala, and Cornelius? The brave Leostenes left Evadne with a numerous Family of Children in strait Circumstances. Hippocrates was her Physician in a dangerous Illness;⁶ he refused to receive the Fees which his frequent Attendance intitled him to: She seemed to be uneasy under this Generosity: Hippocrates perceived it, and then received Fees constantly, but sent a Bank Note from an unknown Hand, of much more Value than the Fees he received.

Decius was Colonel of a Regiment for some Years,⁷ and in those Times when there was Money saved by Clothing, he regularly divided the Profits amongst the Widows and Orphans of the Officers of his Regiment.

Messala fills the Bench with the Applause of Mankind.⁸ The Prisoners, in a Jurisdiction of which he had the Care, petitioned him against the Oppression of their Keeper; he sat Three whole Days to hear their Complaints; and finding that their Adversaries hoped, from the Necessities of the Accusers, to stifle Truth, he gave them Money sufficient to bring their Cause to a full Hearing.

Cornelius,⁹ descended from a Race of Heroes and Patriots, has successfully commanded Armies; he makes Frugality and OEconomy the great Foundation of Generosity: by this he can do Justice to all, pay his Debts, be generous to those who deserve it, and serve his Country without fear of losing his Employments: He declines Expence; but if an Officer, who had served his Country well, had not wherewithall to buy a Commission which of Right belonged to him, Cornelius lent him Money, without Interest, without Security. When the Estates of a great Number of his Countrymen, (hereditary Foes to his Family) by Forfeiture, fell into his Hands; to his hereditary Enemies he gave back their Fortunes, and became a prevalent Solicitor for the Lives of those his Sword had vanquish’d. The Employments under him, which, by his Predecessors, used to be sold, and made no inconsiderable Part of the Perquisite or Income of the Office, he gives some as a Reward to the Veterane Soldier, when discharged; some to the Orphans of Officers, who by employing all their Time and Blood in the Service of the Publick, could not provide for the future Support of their Families; yet the undiscerning Multitude blames the Frugality of Cornelius, and call Thraso generous.¹⁰

Alphus is called covetous;¹¹ had he not been frugal, he would not be the rich Alphus. By Industry and Frugality he has got and saved a great Estate: He has purchased Lands large enough to make an Italian Principality, but has not raised the Rents of one of his Tenants; he envies them not the Comforts earned by the Sweat of their Brow; he is glad to have his Tenants live well; he looks on them as Men, and as such rejoices in their Enjoyment of the Comforts of Life. When Lives drop, he puts in the next Relation at the ancient moderate Fine; and, in Cases of great Compassion, he abates, or even remits that. Such Men, when their Duty or their Country calls for it, can be generous; whilst the extravagant Prodigal, who gives and owes, may be unjust, but can’t be generous.

A compassionate Feeling of the Miseries of others, a kind Striving to relieve them, strikes with Love even those who do not receive the Benefit. When one gives to a wretched Object in the Streets, the poor Passersby frequently bless you, for that which they have in their Will, but not in their Power to do. I, like these, applaud the generous and good-natur’d Acts; which, since I have not the Power to do, I must beg your Assistance to commend[.] Nor can I quite despair of our Times, tho’ bad enough, since I see not only particular Instances of Good-nature, but Numbers associated to carry on the common Cause of Humanity. I read the other Day a little Book, containing an Account of the persecuted Saltzburghers,¹² with a more melancholy Pleasure than I should a good Tragedy. The Concern for the wretched Multitude raised Compassion; and the Satisfaction to find that in England there is still left a Number of Gentlemen, who make the Afflictions of their distressed Protestant Brethren their own, pleased wonderfully.¹³ I believe there is not a thinking Man whose Heart has not yearned for their Sufferings; and yet how impotent was that Compassion? Men of large Fortunes, and generous open Hearts, might feel severely for them; but they knew not which way to succour them. But now that these Gentlemen have offered their Assistance, every one in England, that has Money and Inclination, can, by their Means, convey Relief to Men distressed in the utmost Parts of Germany. The poor Wanderer, banished for his Religion, with his starving Babes crying round him, will, in the suburbs of Frankfort and Ausburgh, be preserved from perishing, by Charity perhaps given in some Inland County of England. Whomsoever God has blessed with Wealth, has now an Opportunity to relieve them; and if he neglects it, he is as much guilty of their Sufferings, as if he saw them perish, and would not assist them.

There is another Society, of whose Intentions I have seen something in the News-Papers, heard much in Conversation, and yet learn but little perfectly. They seem to me the most luxurious of People, and are providing for themselves the most exquisite and delicate kind of Entertainment, that of making the Miserable happy; and being blessed by all the lower Degrees and Ranks of People; I cannot help envying them. I never repined at the Narrowness of my Fortune till now, that it renders me incapable of giving Assistance to such a Design: Yet since Gold nor Silver I have none, I will, by your Assistance, give them what I have, the Fruits of several Years Experience and Reading. We know where it said, a poor Man saved a City;¹⁴ why may not a poor Man’s Advice be useful in founding one?

Want of Property is now called the greatest Misfortune, and by many deemed the only one. He who has no Money, nor Means of getting a Livelihood, is now in England an Outcast of the Society; and a Leper amongst the Jews was not more miserable, nor more abandoned. Without paying, he cannot have Food; he cannot have a Shed to cover him: If he begs, the Beadle raises a Tax upon him, or whips him, for taking the Liberty of asking without his Licence; if he can find Credit, and takes up upon Trust, he loses Light and Air, and rots in a Dungeon, instead of starving at large;¹⁵ and yet these are at least Fellow-Creatures, if not Christian Brethren, for whom we believe Christ died. And tho’ some may be brought into these Circumstances by Vices, yet many are so by their Folly, many by inevitable Misfortunes, and many even by a strict Adherence to Virtue.¹⁶ It seems odd to say the last; but (not to mention scrupulous Consciences about Religion and Government) how many are ruined by being indulgent Parents, kind Brethren, pious Children, or generous Friends? How many themselves become Bail, rather than see a Father, a Brother, a Child, or (which is much dearer) a Friend, torne away to Prison, and buried forever within a Jayl? Much worse than buried; for in the Grave there is Rest; but here they are intombed alive, and mixed with shameless Profligates; forced to hear the most horrid Converse, and subject to the Passions of the most absolute, rapacious, and abandoned of Men! What noble Temper, but, to prevent them from suffering, will expose himself? What generous Man, when urged on by Nature and Friendship, can help plunging into the Pit-fall of the Law, and becoming Security? The Unfortunate, fallen from better Circumstances into extreme Want, are very numerous. Stocks, Trade, Law-Suits, Guardians, Fires, Servants, Bubbles, and other numberless Accidents, reduce good Families from flourishing, into miserable Circumstances. Numberless are the lower Sort of People who, drawn to London by the Hopes of high Wages, cannot get Employment; each Trade is so over-stock’d, that Masterly Hands only can earn Bread. The want of Friends, want of Credit, or a false Shame of working in a lower Degree, prevents several honest Men from being useful in England; and makes them perish for Want, fly their Country, or seek for Bread by unlawful Means. Want first reduces them to Sickness, or Prison; and when the Man’s Industry is useless, the Wife and wretched Children must either perish, or ask Relief of their Parish, which perhaps disowns them, perhaps allows them enough to prevent their being famished to Death, but not enough to prevent Sickness, the constant Companion of Famine.¹⁷ I have heard, at a moderate Computation, that 2000, not including Prisoners, (of whom are computed double that Number) perish yearly of this kind of Distemper, tho’ the Name of it is hardly found in the Weekly Bills. To avoid it, the unfortunate Richard Smith not only destroyed himself, but, out of a dreadful Fondness to free his Wife and Child from a wretched World, killed them also.¹⁸ Nor is this now a thing unusual; how frequent mention is there in the Prints of those, who, to avoid Want, fall Self-murder’d? How generous and Christian an Action would it be, to preserve such Multitudes? And as most good Actions do, it carries with it a consequential Reward, and Six Thousand Subjects yearly saved; and their natural Increase would, in the Age of a Man, augment the Wealth and Power of a State beyond what is easily conceived. These Trustees then intend to save these wretched People, and give them once again an Opportunity of using their Industry, once again a Chance of living comfortably; they will deserve that unutterable Pleasure, which they cannot but reap from such an Action.

I have often wondered, that no Use was made of those vast Tracts of waste Lands subject to the Crown of Great Britain in America. It was generally held by the old Civilians,¹⁹ that it was unjust for one Nation to keep vast Quantities of Land uncultivated; they esteemed this so wrong a thing, that they mentioned it as one of the just Causes of War. If this be to neighbouring Nations, how much more is it so to our own Subjects, whilst you let them perish for want of those Lands to exercise their Industry upon, which you suffer to be the Receptacle of wild Beasts only. Rome, Athens, and the glorious Republicks of the ancient World, thought it of as much Consequence to preserve their Citizens, and build Towns, as to conquer them from Enemies: They, at the Publick Expence, defrayed the Charge of establishing their necessitous People in Colonies.

If I understand it right, the Trustees for the Colony of Georgia are to take the same Care, of sending forth and maintaining those whom Misfortunes forced to quit their native Country. But for to defray this Expence there is no Tax, nor is any one obliged to pay towards it, the Good-nature and Humanity of each Man is the Assessor. If the Trustees intend to employ the Money collected to relieve the Prisoner, to give Bread to the Hungry, Clothes to the Naked, Liberty of Religion to the Oppressed for Conscience sake; to rescue deluded Youth, or helpless Orphans, from the Temptations Want or idle Company may expose them to; and of these to form well-regulated Towns, and to give them Houses, Cattle, and Lands of Inheritance; to instruct them how to raise all those good Things which make Life comfortable; and how to enjoy them under such Laws as tend to make them virtuous and happy both here and hereafter.²⁰ If these are their Intentions, these Motives will be the most active Tax Gatherers. Not a Good-natur’d Man of any Substance in England, but what will give something towards it; and a very little given by each Man, amounts to a great Sum.²¹

If they give Liberty of Religion, establish the People free, fix an Agrarian Law, prohibit within their Jurisdiction that abominable and destructive Custom of Slavery, by which the labouring Hands are rendered useless to the Defence of the State. In fine, if they go upon the glorious Maxims of Liberty and Virtue, their Province, in the Age of a Man, by being the Asilum of the Unfortunate, will be more advantagious to Britain than the Conquest of a Kingdom.

With respect to Trade, as it is now in their Power without Injustice, to order that as they please, they should prohibit the making any Manufactures, but give the People Encouragement to raise such gross Produces as may enable them to buy all they want to better Advantage than if they made them. This may be done there by having the People instructed in raising Silk, Wine and Oil. London pays to Italy only for Raw Silk 300,000l. a Year, and that is the kind of Silk which thrives in Carolina.²² The English Plantations in America pay 115,000 l. to the Portugueze at the Maderas for Wine, and Oil is no inconsiderable Article. If Men can earn 30 or 40 l. a Year by their Labour on these rich Commodities, they will never attempt to make Woolen Goods, Iron Work, Stockings, or any other Manufactures, which they can buy from England, where they are made by Men who work for 15 or 20 l. a Year.²³

In a few Years these Things may be brought to much greater Perfection, than one would now venture to say. About the Year 1690, the first Rice was carried to Carolina in One Hundred Pound Bag; and in 1722, 24000 Barrels of Rice was imported from thence to Europe.²⁴ So that England, which used to buy Rice from Abroad, now furnishes Foreign Markets, and does the same in Pitch and Tarr.

The Profit and Gain that will arise from this Design, if it is well executed, is the meanest Motive; therefore I shall not dwell upon that, but the relieving Thousands, who, in the Anguish of their Souls, curse their very Being; and the saving them from Destruction here, and perhaps hereafter, are Motives that would sway every tender, generous and Christian Soul, to give their utmost Assistance to so noble a Work.

I have thus thrown in my little Mite. If I knew more of the Intentions of the Trustees, I could write better upon the Subject. If the Hints I have given should be of Use to them in directing their Measures; or if what I have said should incline any one Person to be a Benefactor to so good a Work, I have attained my End, and done that by my Pen which my Circumstances would not allow me to do with my Purse.